Her Bigger World
by Marsuvees
Summary: A short sequel of sorts to a previous one-shot. Haruhi's thoughts about how her world has been made so much bigger by Tamaki-senpai. Post-Manga, so includes spoilers through to the end.
_So, in long ages past, I wrote a short drabble regarding Tamaki. Recently, I finished re-reading the Ouran manga and was reminded of the utterly adorable and lovely world that Bisco Hatori gifted us with. Since I have no more manga to read nor anime to watch, I felt I lacked closure—thus, I have returned to write a sequel to that one-shot; including now a perspective from Haruhi post-manga! (particularly since her place in my original fiction was criminally underemphasized.)_

 _As stated in the summary, there will be spoilers through the end of manga. If you haven't read it, you are truly missing out. I mean that—if you loved the anime, your life is incomplete without the manga._

* * *

 _One Month after the Host Club arrived in Boston…._

Haruhi Fujioka softly closed the door behind her and walked across the wonderfully clean (or as Tamaki-senpai had so elegantly put it: "tragically simple") bedroom and snuggled into the warmth of the bed in her Boston apartment. She sighed a great sigh, enjoying thoroughly this new style of bed that was so common in the West, but so rare among her Japanese "commoners". (She smiled ruefully at her ironic use of the Host Club's term)

Stretching, she twisted the sheets around her like a cocoon and reached out for the cell phone, still an ongoing gift from Hikaru and Kaoru, that glowed on the bedside table. She snapped it up, careful not to bump the Ootoro ring that also sat on the table. She snorted in a mix between annoyance and respect when she saw a dozen messages from Tamaki-senpai, all sent within the five minutes she had just spent in the bathroom. He seriously couldn't wait until tomorrow? He was only one apartment over!

She quickly glanced through the messages, all filled with hearts and emojis (his particular favorite being a golden crown that he used incessantly—she wouldn't be surprised if he had somehow personally commissioned it), misspellings and—if she understood his idealistic ranting right—some plan he had to found a sort of Host Club in Boston, but without the hosting—instead, she squinted, they would just find "all the poor and desperate souls of this beauty-impoverished city and help them solve their problems and find a new life of 'wealth in the heart.'"

Haruhi nearly laughed aloud, not even remotely knowing what he meant by that—it sounded like Host Club business-as-usual to her. She had only spent a month in Boston and, somehow, she felt the people here would not fall so easily for Tamaki-senpai's world as those at Ouran did. She placed the phone down, anticipating that—when he faced that harsh reality- she would have to do a lot of cleaning up after his depressed mushroom-growing and hamster-home building….she was, after all, his girlfriend now (or, as he called it, fiancé—the difference, of course, not because she was opposed to their eventual future, but because she wanted Tamaki-senpai to remember the order of things and not get too ahead of himself).

A moment passed, and Haruhi caught herself just smiling contentedly at the ceiling. Maybe she was wrong…after all, she had kind of fallen for Tamaki-senpai's world herself, so she really, practically speaking, shouldn't put it past anyone else. Her boyfriend (contented smile) could be quite charismatic, insightful and convincing when he wasn't letting his idiocy show (she shuddered to think of what would happen to Tamaki-senpai if she wasn't here to anchor him down—he'd probably get himself killed out there!)

The contented smile continued onward—yes, she was right, she shouldn't put it past him to somehow, magically, make his plan work—after all, that's why they were here in these apartments after all. He had set it all up himself (she had to imagine, though, with some help from Kyoya-senpai), even to the point of having their two apartments conjoined by "the love door" as he foolishly called it so that he could come and go, visiting her as he pleased. Haruhi grinned as she remembered the tragic look of loss on his face when she had blocked the door off with a desk from her side, telling him that it would be impractical and a distraction for him to just come and go as he pleased. She blushed as she remembered that it wasn't until she had agreed to both "good morning" and "good night" kisses that he had allowed the door to be blocked; she blushed even more knowing that was all the kind fool would ever ask for, after all, the two-separate-apartments had been his idea for moral reasons (even if Haruhi primarily appreciated it for practical reasons). All of this because of Tamaki-senpai, that idiotic, cute, stupid, respectful, foolish, kind, arrogant, genuine dummy.

Yes, positively speaking, all of this good was because of him, and she knew she was too hard on him about it sometimes (but someone had to pull him back down to earth so that he didn't float away into the stratosphere by the pull of his own ego!). She had to admit, the respectable Tamaki-senpai had opened her world. It was because of him that she was able to go out and have fun, as the Club had at the Museum of Science last week (oh the memories there, she grinned), or at the Zoo he had insisted they visit yesterday, or the trip to the beach they were making tomorrow. All these new experiences, each faced with a fullness and eagerness-it was unbelievable.

As she looked back at the Haruhi who had walked into Ouran Academy, trying to connect that one with the one lying in bed now, who goes out to all these fun, impractical things just for the joy of it-impossible! But that was Tamaki's world; fun for the genuine smiles of everyone spending time together (her heart warmed to an uncomfortable degree as she thought back to great smile, near tears, that had filled Tamaki-senpai's face and scrunched up his eyes as he watched everyone enjoying themselves recently).

Haruhi moved to flick off the light. Tamaki-senpai always found exactly what he was looking for, every day. It was, in an absurd way, amazing—and he never even realized it.

Speaking of people, Haruhi couldn't imagine the same Haruhi who had entered Ouran Academy being the Haruhi that could now understand and challenge Kyoya-senpai, who could be on the inside world of the Hitachiin Twins and be able to help direct their unbridled, energetic growth into a larger world, to be able to understand Mori-senpai with a look and appreciate Honey-senpai's sweets alongside him-no, all of those things she had learned from Tamaki-senpai; how to know people, how to love these people.

She thought back to all the times he had said something that had gotten right to the heart of the struggle of someone at Ouran (something she greatly admired him for) and the grand, extravagant, foolish plans he would come up with to help them…she touched a finger to her lips; maybe his new club plan wasn't so foolish….(of course it was).

All of this—he had invited her into this absurd, huge world of his, outside of her studies-her studies! Haruhi shook her head clear. She had that exam next week, that's what she should be thinking about now! She scolded herself, knowing she thought of Tamaki-senpai far more often than she ought (she smirked at the reaction he would have to hearing that). She needed to consider her schooling—

 _CRASH_

Haruhi startled and slipped her head under the blankets. Thunder. Damn it, why was there thunder now? Some silly Tamaki-inherited part of her had hoped that maybe Boston didn't storm so much as Japan, and so far there had been marvelous, clear weather, but somewhere in the night, this storm must have whipped up-

 _CRACK_

Lightning flashed outside her window and rain began to pelt against it. Haruhi felt the familiar shiver run up her spine and her pulse accelerate. She was so annoyed to have this weakness, this trouble, she hated it about herself, but there it was nonethele-

 _CRASH_

She started and covered her ears, letting out a little gasp. At least she had all these blankets. She'd just have to struggle through again—

No. Wait.

That was the other thing in Tamaki-senpai's world. He had shown her a world in which she didn't need to handle herself all alone, as she had been habituated to-just as she had taught the same lesson back to him when they ran to catch his mother before she left for France. Haruhi gulped. The most important thing Tamaki had introduced her to, beyond the fun, beyond the joy, beyond (but including) the friends and family, was a world where it was clear: she didn't have to be alone.

In his world, no one was alone.

Haruhi steeled a determined look in her eye and, with the blankets wrapped carefully around herself, took her first step onto the wooden floor.

 _CRASH_

She jumped, nearly dropping all the blankets, but managed to take another step forward. That step turned into a dart through the bedroom door and out into the living space. She was headed for the front door when, in the dark, she heard the stupid "love door" shake and creak open as much as it was able, buried behind a desk as it was.

"Haruhi!" came Tamaki-senpai's urgent, overwrought voice. "Haruhi are you okay? The storm…are you safe?"

Haruhi paused, seeing the outline of the door in the dark being jostled and pushed as Tamaki tried to peak through the opening—she could tell he was battling a conflict between breaking her "no love door" rule and wanting to check on her.

 _CRACK_

"Haruhi!" Tamaki-senpai exclaimed again, almost as if he himself were the one afraid of the thunder. Within seconds, Haruhi had stumbled to the desk and was dragging it away from the door.

"Senpai…" she started, looking up at his tall frame, covered in his silly Kuma-chan pajamas "What did I…what did I say about the door-"

 _CRASH_

She leapt again and hugged the blankets tighter. She saw his smile, _the_ smile, spread across his face as he held out a hand to her through the small opening in the door, now just wide enough to accommodate her small ("super-ultra-cute", in his words) frame.

"Haruhi…don't you think that, maybe just for tonight, that it's safer over here?"

After a moment's pause, Haruhi nodded without a word and before she could think another thought, Tamaki's long arms had gathered her up, bunching the blankets close to her ears and holding her face to his chest to block her sight. As he strode from the door to his couch, nearly tripping over the Kotatsu he had brought with him, Tamaki-senpai sat himself down before twisting to recline with Haruhi's small frame atop him. She felt Antoinette appear and curl up beside them on the floor.

Maybe…her thoughts began to drift, as she felt Tamaki-senpai's breath on her head and the movement of his chest; his calming breathing (she could tell he was recovering from being alarmed). Maybe…maybe she would move the desk away from the door tomorrow, just a little…it was, only practical…in case something like this happened again…

"Tamaki-senpai…" she mumbled.

"Hmm, eh?" Tamaki responded, "What is it, Haruhi?"

"Thank you…thank you making my world bigger, senpai."

She could almost feel the blushing heat radiating from his face. "Well, I, uh, you are quite welcome, Haruhi." He reached a hand out over her forehead, "…are you feverish? I can call Kyoya and he'll get a taxi to the hospital-!"

Haruhi put a finger to his lips to quiet him and shook her head into his chest, "No, you idiot."

She felt his body de-tense. "Well, then, Haruhi—I need to thank you, as well. You made my world bigger, too."

Haruhi smiled widely, hidden slightly from Tamaki-senpai's view. What a lovely thing this all was...she considered, briefly, that Kaoru and Hikaru would tease them mercilessly if they found them like this tomorrow morning, but as Tamaki-senpai rocked her back and forth in the storm, the thought drifted away into sleep, soon followed by Tamaki himself.

In the end, Haruhi knew, like everyone else, that as much as she might deny it (particularly if the rest of the Host Club were present) she wouldn't have things any other way than this; all of this. She wouldn't give up her Tamaki-senpai and her Host Club family for anything.

Except for, maybe, just maybe, some fancy tuna.

… _.Start with me and the world will be  
Even bigger than ever before._

* * *

 _Ah, now that is what I call catharsis. Closure achieved. Thank you, Ouran._

 _Now, to return to the Kingdom Hearts story…_

 _I hope all is well with you, wherever and whoever you are!  
~Mars_


End file.
